Engineers should learn legal philosophy, even though it seems unrelated to traditional technical practice. Monitoring changes in legal theory that may increase engineers' liability and understanding the rationale behind legal processes helps strengthen their defenses against possible suits. Civil engineers are prime targets for lawsuits nowadays because of the deteriorating infrastructure, acid rain, chemical spills, polluted water, deficient buildings and bridges and aging highways. Engineers can take a number of steps to help avoid lawsuits. Perhaps the best step is to close the gap between engineers and attorneys.